Rocky’s Web

Archive for July, 2008

Grants, NM (almost)

Well, it’s been another 3 days since my last report.  We left Pie Town Sunday about 7:30 in the morning, heading north towards Hwy 117 that goes into Grants.  It was to be about 30 miles, so we were prepared to spend the night somewhere along the route.  We knew that pushing 30 miles would be too much for us and the horses.  Even though the terrain was relatively flat with very few hills.  We are thankful for the early “monsoon” season because of the overcast days.  Without that, it would be pretty hot riding the trail.  We were able to get water  about every 2 hours along the road untill after 1:00.  We didn’t get water again untill about 6 hours later at a windmill along the road.  It has been fun, interesting, and very informative meeting and talking to the many people we meet along the way.  Everyone has been very helpful and courteous.  Take today, while we were riding on the dirt road, a car was approaching us.  It stopped ahead and wated for us to ride up.  A man and a woman had gotten out of the car and the man came walking towards me saying “Are you Col Rocky Woolman”??  He caught me completely by surprise.  I thought maybe the law was after me or something.  He was wearing a special forces hat and T-shirt.  I say “yes” and then said “which horse is Soldier”??  Again, I was caught by surprise.  I pointed to Soldier and he then introduced himself as James Jarret and his wife Lisa.  It seems they had been following our web site and it being Sunday, they had decided to see if they could find us.  James, being former military, had depicted the exact place we would be.  We had quite a conversation about horses, military, CDT, trails, New Mexico, etc.  Lisa even went into their car and brought out a pail and some water for the horses.  Later, she offered us some nut bars and snacks.  James and Lisa, I just want to thank you, again, for your kind thoughtfulness and supporting our ride.  We then met the Thomas’s.  They have a business in Albuquerque and visit their ranch home on the weekends.  Ms. Thomas is from Oklahoma (Stratford) and she met her husband during the Korean war.  They were a real nice couple and having a ranch on the CDT corridor, they have an open gate with a sign inviting anyone in to get water or any type of assistance.  They were great!!  We were only going to ride 15-18 miles that day, but with the absence of some water, by the time we reached the next well, we had ridden about 24 miles and about 12 hours of travel.  We found a well with a corral and were able to put the horses in the corral and have water available for them.  Actually, with the now absence of any trees, we were going to have to “hobble” the horses at night.  Thank goodness for the well and corral.  By the time we got out tents up and finished our “MRE’s”, the wind came up and was blowing in a storm.  We got a little rain, but by morining, it wasn’t even enough to notice.

Next Day!!

We got up and around by 7:30.  We weren’t in too big a rush because we knew we only had about 6 more miles to go to meet the ground crew at Hwy 117.  As we approached the intersection, we noticed a biker (bicycle) sitting on the road beside his bicycle.  We stopped and started talking.  He was taking a break before his next stop at Pie Town.  He was from New Zealand and saw the CDT trail on the internet and decided to try it.  He had started from the Canadian border on June 20^th and was all the way down to mid Mexico in just 17 days.  He had come that far in 17 days while we were riding the horses North and had just reached this poing in the same amount of time.  Does that make sense??  In other words, a bicyclist can travel North to South across America in about 3 weeks that would take us on horse back about 3-4 months.  Quite interesting.  Anyway, as we got to the intersection, our crew wasn’t there.  We asked the biker if he had seen a horsetrailer on his route and he said he had, just abou a mile up the road.  We decided to ride on and did find the trailer.  With half the day to go, we again decided to continue riding to what the map showed as a campsite just short of the “narrows” on the road to Grants.  We got there and had traveled a total of over 16 miles that day.  We spent the night in the camp, but it was still eventfull.  Zena seemed like she was “cholicing” and in pain.  We thought it was from her sore on her back, but we walked her and gave her some Banamine.  This is about the 4^th time she has acted this way this past year.  By morning, she seemed a lot better and would eat and drink.  We are trading out Zena for “Blackie” (one of Mark and Robyn’s horses) so I can continue on the ride.  I’m also trading out Pepe (because of his foot and shoe problem) for one of Robyn’s newest mares.  I’ll then still have 3 horses: Blackie, Soldier, and the new mare.  We decided to go on into Grants and find the rodeo grounds that James Jarrett had told us about so we could recoup and rest untill I was able to trade horses with Mark and Robyn.  Tomorrow (Wednesday), Paul and I will take Pepe and Zena to Robyn and pick up the other two horses.  Since I’ll be gone tomorrow and unable to get on the internet, I want to with Robyn (my daughter) a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  Our next trek will be out of Grants, towards Mt. Taylor which we will probably camp 3-4 days before meeting the crew again, so if we don’t make the internet within the next week, don’t get too excited.  It will be a good trip.  SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!!

Happy Independence Day

Hope that everyone is having a good Independence Day  weekend.  I am presently sitting in Pie Town, waiting for Rocky and Larry to come down South Pie Town Road.  If they aren’t in when Paul gets back from up the road, where there is internet service, maybe I will saddle Cochise, Larry’s ap and pony Zena down to meet them. It is a long dirt road.  The rest of us are just fine dealing with the no phone or internet, but it drives Paul crazy, because he can’t talk to his fiancée.  We call people when we can. I know today I used a pay phone and a phone card, no big thing. They are advertising a whole pie here for $19.99. I haven’t looked at the size, but steep if you asked me. A piece is $ 4.95, might check it out. Want to wait for the other sugar junkie to arrive.  There is also a restaurant here in town, it won’t besn’t open until Tuesday,, but not much else. The people at the fire department were very helpful in helping us make sure we were at the end of the right road, and told us where to find fuel, being the 4^th the station we passed on the way in was closed, and water, if we want to fill tanks again. 

Just so  you all know, that Rocky is doing fine even though he suffered those injuries on the last trip out.  That is why he went with the two man rule, so there would be someone with a clear head around.  Larry has a clear head and is a fantastic person to have around.  Know no matter what situations they run in out there, they will be there for each other. Am glad I didn’t hear the stories until I had seen them both riding towards me on that dirt road. The dogs and I  drove  in  the truck to see how far out they were and bring them something to drink.  The rancher, whose place we were camped had spoken to a neighbor, where they had stopped for lunch, knew they were on their way in.  The one thing I have to get use to is lack of road signs, but who knows maybe when this adventure is over I will know how to use a GPS.  Be prepared girls, I may even be able to read a map and not get us  lost at Otter Creek, if you guys ever decide I am trail boss material. 

On the trash issue, I have noticed that in this part of New Mexico they have trash barrels on the side the road for travelers and there is a lot less trash.  Well, better take the dogs out, because they are getting antsy.                    

Back again, with the continuation of this adventure.   June 25, Day 5—–We were all set to leave the campsite on Separ Road at 7 am. I heard the weather on the Silver City Radio station and it was 62 degrees with a slight breeze.  A beautiful day to ride, and I was a little jealous, but at least had a chance to enjoy the sights.  Rocky had Jazz, the 4 year old Aussie run with them for about 10 miles, he wants her to be able to go more, but with the rabid foxes, doesn’t want to take any chances.  Both men kept the same horses, and I drove a bit ahead and did cattle guard duty.  There were more cattle out to look at on the way back up the road.  I saw this big black angus bull itching himself on a huge cactus, it must have been a serious itch, because he looked like he was in 7^th heaven. Got a good picture of it, but when he started pawing, decided to adios.  Also, saw a lot of cows mostly Herefords and angus, some with calves still sucking on them.  Saw my first antelope along that road, and more jack rabbits.

Had the most AMAZING EXPERIENC,  a young hawk, landed on the passenger side mirror and sat there for about a minute just looking in at me. The dogs in the back seat didn’t even move. It was one of those moments that will be remembered forever. Rocky had seen one in the brush as he rode up and said it was a grey spotted one. Looking in the Audubon book, the picture matched a Cooper Hawk.  I took it as a sign that there is a message there for me, but know it is something I will treasure forever. I told Larry, I don’t care if someone was going to give me $500, I would rather have it happen again. He said he would rather have the money.  Just wish I had grabbed my camera that was sitting there, but didn’t want to break the eye contact.  Even though I don’t have it on camera, it will always be in my mind.

While I was opening a cattle guard  AT Cole , had stopped on the way out of the road, and gave me a little history on Soldier Mountain that was off in the distance. That is where the cavalry said farewell  to the pioneers that were traveling west.   In some ways we are on a pioneer mission of our own, trying to prove that getting to Canada in one season can be done.  I will say that there were a lot of people who thought I was completely nuts to tell Rocky I would do this, but if you have dreams, and feel comfortable with your traveling partners, I say have FAITH, and follow those dreams . This kind of thing might not be for everyone, but I know it is something that I will always remember.

We arrived back at camp about 3:30 p.m. that afternoon and were visited by a sheriff, who was doing a welfare check. A passerby had noticed the rigs sitting by the road and didn’t see any movement or anyone about, we told  him that everything was fine. Paul said he was sitting on the other side of the trailers, so that is why they didn’t see him. We had another visitor Mike Oliver, a neighbor from down the road, who had a lot of valuable information for us, about the mountain lions that had killed a gentleman in Palo Altos. Update:  There were 2, a male and a female, but they both have been shot, and there was no sign of rabies. The female escaped the hunt a couple days longer than the male. A woman on horseback over the following weekend got caught in one of the snares set out for the cats, and both her and her horse suffered mild injuries, but the lions didn’t attack anyone else. 

Silver City the next day, will stop here am running out of battery on the computer. Also, will give you my rating on the pie I ate in Pie Town.  We are parked on the side the road on our way into Grants, and Larry and Rocky are out again over night.  Will use pen and paper for awhile and keep this saga going for next computer session.

Pie Town

Well, after 2 days, we made it to Pie Town.  We got here around 2:30 (after leaving at about 7:15 this morning).  We left Hwy 12 (which we were camped at yesterday) at about 10:45.  We got a late start because we were catching up on things at the trailer.  The weather was O.K., with a scattered overcast the two days.  We were lucky enough to be in between any local rain showers.  We traveled about 16 miles and decided to start looking for a place to camp for the night.  We found enough water tanks on the trail that day and today, to water the horses.  At about 5:30, we came upon a windmill with some horse corrals and decided to go ahead and stop early because of the amenities.  The windmill was the first one we have come across that actually had a pipe running into the water tank, so we were able to get “people” water as well as animal water.  It was good and cool.  We were at approximately 7,000 ft elevation.  We really felt the elevation, when we woke up this morning at a temperature of 41 degrees.  All I had was a long sleeve shirt.  Larry had a light jacked and even put his raincoat over it to try to keep warm.  It didn’t take it long to warm up after the sun came up.  Wildlife in the area was scarce, but we did see a few deer and about 8-10 antelope.  A car stopped to talk to us at one point, and he said he had just taken a picture of a bobcat sitting beside the road just a few yards ahead, over the hill.  When we passed, we didn’t see anything.  The horses did well.  I rode Pepe and packed Warrior.  Zena’s back was still to bad to ride.  I don’t think I mentioned it before, but I had obtaining a new Circle Y saddle flex 2 saddle for the ride, and found that it was the cause of causing sores on all 3 of my horses back.  I checked the saddle and it looks like a manufacture’s defect of a lump under the cantel of the saddle that shouldn’t be there.  That pressure bump on the saddle has sure done a job on my horses.  I’m using it on Soldier (as a pack saddle), but I’m padding it with about 3 inches of pad.  It seems not to bother him much or cause soreness(other than the first time he had the saddle and it caused a sore on his back).  Pepe’s club foot’s shoe is almost worn into on the front, but I’m having to use here as long as Zena’s back is so bad.  Pepe is doing O.K. and the shoe is stil working.  When we got into Pie Town, I told Larry that I sure hope there’s a Cafe open so we can get a good meal.  Naturally, it being the 4th weekend, there was a sign on the main Cafe that said they were closed the 4th and 5th for a family geathering and wouldn’t be open will next Tuesday.  We found where Paul and Kathy had stopped the trailers and were going to spend the night there, but our plans changed.  I got in the pickup with Paul and Kathy (Larry didnt’ want to go) and we went to another local store(pie o ner) to see if they had any kind of sandwiches (or any kind of food).  At the time, all they were serving was Pie and ice cream.  Well………being in “Pie Town” we had to sample the pie.  The place is owned and run by Kathy and Stan.  After they heard about us doing the ride and where we were parked, they invited us to park beside their store where we could hook up with electricity for the night, and put our horses in their back yard (they didnt’ want to cut the grass!!  Kathy and Stan have been very generous and our grateful thanks go their way.  If you’re ever through Pie Town, stop by and tell them Rocky and Larry (Kathy and Paul) said “hi” and do sample their pie.  Well……that’s all for today.  Tomorrow, we start towards Grants, NM and it is at least an 80 mile ride for us.  We’ll be spending the night enroute and meeting with Paul and Kathy the next day at Hwy 117.  I estimate we will be out of internet/phone range for at least the next 4 days.  We’ll see how it goes, so don’t get too nervous if we loose contact.  By for now.  I’m still working on getting pictures up on the post and on the side bar.  It takes time and I’m limited between internet access and riding.

Six Days without Internet!!

Well…..I’m back.  Can you believe that Ma Bell has left part of the US without phone service??  Last Saturday, we left Walmart and headed North.  We traveled road #15 that was to go to the Cliff Dwellings National Park.  It was tough riding, because there were no shoulders to ride on.  We had to stay on the road all the way and watch for traffic (or they watch for us).   After we reached Pinos Altos, the road changed.  It narrowed down and there were no more markings on the road.  The road got a little more difficult at that point and there were a lot of ups and downs on the mountains.  We spent the night at the intersection of State Road 35.  The next day, we then headed on towards the Cliff Dwellings.  The roads, again, got a little harder for the horses, having to ride on the pavement and make some pretty good hills.  All in all, we ended at the Hot Springs RV Park, which was about 4 miles from the National Park.  Paul got there early and he and Kathy made arrangements for us to spend the night there and had a corral for our horses.  We got there early, and had time to visit the local store and go on down to enjoy our first “hot springs” experience.  It was quite an experience.  We then drove on to the Cliff Dwellings National Park and visited with Dave (Park Ranger) and had a good time with our volungteer guides into the Cliff Dwellings.  I got my National Park Stamp Book “stamped” and we went back to camp.  We spent the rest of the evening preparing our packs for the first lengthy time away from our support crew and what we thought would be at least 4 days in the wilderness.  We got a late start Monday from the RV park and rode 16 miles following the Gila River.  It was a very beautiful ride.  We must have crossed the river at least 25 times that day.  The trail was easy to follow and we found out later on that it had just been worked.  About noon, I took a wrong turn on the trail and ended up on the side of a hill, surrounded by trees on 2 sides and a creek with a pool on the other.  While trying to turn around, Zena got her feet caught in a “bog” and trying to get out, she reared up and fell over sideways on my leg.  Luckily my leg was in th bog and it was pressed down with no injury.  I did end up covered with mud.  I told Larry I couldn’t ride like that and I was going to change my clothes while he tried turning the horses around to go back down the trail.  I got some new clothes from my pack, and started “stripping” down.  I was right on that pool of water, so I thought I’d rinse out my clothes and they wouldn’t have the mud on them.  When I put them into the pool……WOW!! it was actually a “hot springs”.  You don’t know how bad I really wanted to just jump into it.  We got all straighted out and proceeded on.  That night was our first night camping and it went quite well.  I can tell you that those MREs tasted just like a 3 course, triple A meal!!  We had traveled 16 miles that day.  The next day, we hadn’t gone too far untill we ran into a camp that had about 3 mules tied.  I yelled, but no one was there.  We continued on and finally met up with their occupants.  We met Phil and his “crew”.  Phil only works about 6 months out of the year for the Forest Service maintaining different trails in their region.  His crew of 8 consisted mainly of young women (20-30 yrs old).  Boy……what a job.  They work 8 days and get off 6.  They were doing a great job on the trails.  We continued to a point that I had picked (and Phil had suggested) getting out of the river.  Although you would look on both sides and see nothing but 400-500 foot cliffs.  It was beautiful, but intimidating.  We started our climb out, and found it to be quite intimidating.   Believe me, I wouldn’t try that trail again.  At times it was only 2 feet wide, nothing but rocks, and almost straight up.  It got so bad, that I brought my pack horse up in front of Zena (the one I was riding) and started leading him up the trail.  I hadn’t gone far, when I stumbled and when I put my hand down to catch my self……..well…….have you ever had a horse step on your foot??   Well, I then had Soldier ( my mustang/part draft horse) step on my HAND!!!  It was on a rock and I thought it was broken……for sure.  Well….I finally got him off the hand (after severl seconds of yelling!!) and at least nothing seemed to be broken.  The hand is still swollen from the impact, and a little scarred.  We finally made it to the top and then ran into a thunderstorm.  We waited it out because of the “lightening” that was crashing all around.  We only made about 16 miles that day and found an old Indian Well with a 100 year old house with corrals and spent the night.  We woke the next morinng “freezing”.  It was 40 degrees and we were at out highest altitude of about 8,000 feet.  It does warm up pretty fast, thought.  We left the next morning (with our horses being able to eat all night in the pens) and hadn’t gone about 4 miles when we entered into the “Meadows”.  We saw 5-6 deer and then came upon an elk herd of about 40+ elk.  Not too far off and up the road, we spotted an individual with a 4-wheeler.  We approached and introduced ourselves.  The man’s name was Cris Cox and he had been hired by the “government” to trak and monitor the movement of the local wolves.  We had just read in the Silver City newspaper about 2 wolves being released into the wilderness. Cris was there trying to track them and keep an eye on otheres in the area.  He said he was watching a wolf pack of some 4-6 adults and a den of 9 babies.  He said there were at least 2 other males in the area and they have been hard to trak.  He is also being suppored by 2 local rachers to report the whereabouts of the wolves.  The wolf issue has now become quite an issue here in this part of New Mexico.  The government wants to repopulate the wolves, but the local ranchers don’t want them because they keep on killing their cattle (more on that, later).  We traveled about 18 miles that day and finished with staying at an “oasis” in the mountains.  We spotted what looked like a long building.  We decided we had had enough for the day and thought we could spend the night there and see if they had any water.  When we went in, it was a hay building and corral setup for sorting, branding, weighing, and taking care of cows.  We fed the horses some hay and put them in one of the corrals (with more hay) for the night and plenty of water.  We set up the tents under the 1/2 barn and enjoyed another evening with MREs and beautiful surroundings.  We were able to find water tanks most all of the way on this route.  We crossed the CDT trail later the next day and came out of the forrest into the plains.  About noon, we approached one of the only houses on the plains.  I knocked on the door and Sherri answered.  Sherri and Jim Haught had just moved into the ranch houses to manage it for the owner.  Sherri was very polite and assisted us with water for the horses and ourselves.  She then invited us in for lunch (which we gratefully accepted).  I then learned of the history of the area and the issues with the wolves.  Kathy will discuss the issue later.  We just want to thank Sherri and Jim for their “frontier” hospitality.  We traveled about 24 miles that day and enede up with our support crew on Highway 12 and Bursom Road.  I’m getting a little tired and need some rest.  It is about 2 a.m. and I wanted to get a little something on the internet before we head out tomorrow.  I had quite a few pictures and will also try to get them on when I get some more time.  Tomorrow (July 4th) we celebrate our country’s freedom.  Please remember our troops overseas and those in the past that have kept it for us.  Happy belated birthday to my granddaughter Laekyn  Reust.

Where does the Time Go??

Sorry that I haven’t been able to write, but have been places where there is still no phone service or internet. Right now, am using the generator to recharge the power in the trailers. Figured , might as well try to play catch up, while sitting here waiting for Rocky and Larry to meet us at the end of their first trip into the wilderness. We have to report back to the Dave, a Ranger at the Gila Visitor’s Center on what they found. They had expected to do it in 3 days, but Rocky said don’t get nervous until the end of the day on Thursday.  Can’t really complain, because we can use the shower at the Horse Springs Church Youth Building and have plenty of water for the horses. We are right at the end of the road they plan on coming out on, so can’t miss us.  

Back to Day 3 —-JUNE 23——It seems like it was ages ago, but all the days seem to run together, because you aren’t punching a time clock. Oh, I don’t miss that at all.  They left the camp site at about 7:35 am, with Rocky riding Soldier and leading Pepe. His back was a little sore from the previous day’s ride.  Larry was riding Kemo and leading Chochise.

At the first stop that morning about 9:30 for water tack changes were made. Rocky put at bridle with a curb bit on Soldier. He is a good horse, but is a little bullheaded and liked to take control of things himself. The change in bit helped, and he also removed one of the saddle pads and changed to a smaller length girth. Soldier is built a little stockier than Rocky’s  other 2 horses.  He has been developing more manners and is a pretty laid back horse for being greenbroke. I will say that mustang really knows what self perservation is all about.  Chochise had nicked his rear right ankle, so that was doctored up. Nothing serious,  just a little hair off.

While we were stopped there Larry talked to a Border Patrol officer named Nick Barton from CO, and Paul talked to the one  in the other truck.  While we were sitting there John Staehle, from South Plains Implement, a John Deere dealer in Deming stopped to talk. Small world he was originally from Rochester, New York, and has been in this area 4 years.  

Paul went up ahead to that night’s camping spot.  Kathy waited up ahead with water, as there is no water on that stretch of road.  Some of the things that I observed, was the amount of glass along the road and garbage. There is no recycling in New Mexico. I asked Tim Balderston, the Customs Officer in Antelope Wells, when he stopped by the campsite that night and he said a lot of it is left by the illegals entering the country. He was on his way back from a meeting and left us a couple of newspapers. Oh yes, it did show us the outside world exists and what we have missed going on in the World.  The fences all had extra piece of wire between the fence posts to keep it tight.  I did notice as we got closer to the interstate there were more cattle transport trailers, empty. Tractor trailers carrying huge square bales, that I know many of your horses  would die for. Know my chow hounds would be first in line.

We arrived in camp around 3:30 and camped along the interstate.  Besides Tim stopping, we were also visited by another Border Patrol agent, named Charlie Flockhart,  originally from TN. He wanted to see the horses and said he saw us while he was patrolling and was interesting in what we were doing.  Our last visitors of the evening were Will and Crystal Gierhart on the way back to their home . ( See Day 1). They said that up by Deming there was a real bad dust storm and were lucky to make it through. Sometimes they close the roads.  Kind of like the whiteouts up North in the winter. 

Day 4—June 24—–We broke camp and Larry and Rocky started off about 6:50 am. Rocky was riding Zena  and leading Soldier. Larry was riding Dakota and leading Kemo. They had about a 7 mile ride along the interstate to Separ Road.

Paul and I headed off to Lordsburg to fuel up the rigs, and find another garbage can. We needed a third barrel to haul water, because there wasn’t really any creeks and springs to be found along the road on the maps, and wanted to be prepared for anything.  We found our barrel and picked up 4 extra buckets at   the Family Dollar.  Drove back up to a little past Separ Road and dropped the camping trailer. Paul was there with the other rig and spare horses.  I then went to an RV park, a couple of miles down the road in search of water. As luck would have it, a nice man named Charlie Cooper filled the barrels for me, so we had about 150 gallons on the back of the pickup. Now, the fun begins, trying to find Larry and Rocky, because we were coming in from 2 different ends of the road. Separ Road is a long dirt road, with many  turnoffs and not marked well at all. I made a wrong turn and ended up at the McDonald Ranch, but with help got back on Separ.  It seemed like I was driving forever, didn’t see many cattle, but it was near the heat of the day. I was beginning to get nervous when I saw Exiting Open Range Land, but could see the interstate off in a distance. As luck would have it, I was fortunate enough to run into David Miller, a rancher on the road and asked him if I was on the right road and he assured me that I was. He said he had seem Rocky and Larry 2 hours ago, and asked me if I had passed them. They saw me go by but were by a house. David helped me find their trail. Yes, guys, the old hoof prints in the dirt.  Mission accomplished, and I really appreciated your help David. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Rocky and Larry, staying either about 5 miles ahead, or the next cattle guard. That was an education, seeing how they were all new to me. There were many different kinds, the easiest to open were regular metal gates, the barbwire ones that had a piece of wire over the top, weren’t bad. The hardest ones were the ones that you had to untwist about 3 or 4 strands of wire.  Yes, folks have played with wire before, so am familiar with it. There is a law that cattle guards are suppose to be passable, so no locked gates, even though there was one at the end of Separ Road.  So even though the wire had to be cut, it was repaired once they had passed through it. Please folks keep in mind respect any property that you are on. Close gates and don’t  litter, As it was nearing the end of the day, I was asked to go to the house on the Pitchfork Ranch, and ask if they could stay in the cottonwoods.  A.T. and his wife Cynthia said that was fine.  We were grateful for the peaceful place to camp. Rocky and Larry set up their tents, we got the horses taken care of. Larry decided to go see if the Cole’s would be kind enough to fill their water bottles, and since they allowed us to fill the water barrels, I was saved a trip up to where the trailers were parked and down in the morning. The guys shared their MRE’s with me. Another  first, and I will say they were pretty tasty. I ended up with a tuna one, complete with mayo, soft shells, pretzels, and a molasses cookie. Rocky lucked out and found his favorite candy in his. Anyone care to guess? Peanut M&M ‘s.  It was really a nice night. Everyone turned in about 9. I slept on the back seat of the pickup, folded down the seats. The dogs were thrilled to be in the tent with Rocky. They miss being his constant companions, but the “girls” and  I are becoming  pals and are keeping me company here at the campsite. 

Well, I have rambled on enough, and will continue later. Probably should shut the generator off, and head for the shower. Don’t think the guys will make it in tonight.

To answer Debbie’s question from MN, you can read Rocky’s  page to see how we met.  I may be from the North, but my family and friends will tell you that I am one lady, who if someone tells me I can’t do something  I will try to prove them wrong before I give up.  A lot of that has to do with Irish heritage, though the temper is long gone.  You can contact me at cowpony23@ hotmail.com.  So can anyone else, but please be kind and don’t send any junk or forwards, since computer time is limited. I will try to answer everyone.  Just put CDT ride or something like it in the subject line.  That way my daughter won’t delete you, she is keeping an eye on it, so I don’t end up with a lot of junk.

Will keep more updates coming.  Love the country and the people I have met.

Mary Beth Myers Birthday